Module 1
Factual Background
Chapter 2: Good Practices
2.8 Good Practice in Romania: The National School Abandonment Reduction Program (PNRAS)
Approved by H.G. no. 1309/2021, it is a systemic intervention, undertaken by the Ministry of Education in order to combat early school leaving. PNRAS is implemented within the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience of Romania (PNRR) and benefits from a financing amounting to 543 million Euros. PNRAS aims to achieve the following general objectives: a) to reduce the risk of dropping out of school in at least 25% of the educational units participating in the Program in the period 2021-2026, with the educational unit being included in a lower risk category; b) the improvement of the results obtained by the students within the national evaluations and the increase of the percentage of students who complete the secondary education; c) increasing the participation of lower secondary school graduates in the national assessment for 8th grade graduates and the rate of transition from lower secondary education to upper secondary education.
The grant scheme, planned in two rounds, during the years 2022 and 2023, aims to support a minimum number of 2,500 schools with high and medium risk of school dropout, by using the methodology and the IT tool of the Early Warning Mechanism in Education ( MATE), by allocating financial resources to schools to support students, in order to reduce absenteeism, improve assessment results, obtain a higher participation rate in national exams and a higher percentage of students completing compulsory education.
PNRAS is the largest program to support participation in education in the recent history of Romania and the first coherent program at national level that aims to scale measures proven effective at the local, individual level, in order to achieve an important country goal: increasing equity of the education system. PNRAS is the Ministry of Education's response to early school leaving and early school leaving and it is aimed at students at risk of dropping out, especially students belonging to vulnerable groups, such as students belonging to the Roma minority, students from rural and small urban areas, students with disabilities or needs special education (SEN), students from economically disadvantaged communities, children at risk of social exclusion due to poverty, homelessness, single-parent families, disorganized families, students at risk of other social risks.
Brio - the first and only standardized testing platform in Romania - meets the needs identified in the Romanian education system, providing the tools needed to meet the objectives of the National Program for Reducing School Dropout (PNRAS).
Within the project, the applicants can benefit from standardized tests for the main school subjects (mathematics, Romanian language, history), literacy and digital literacy tests, as well as all the technical support and training courses necessary to implement and use the platform in schools
The grant scheme, planned in two rounds, during the years 2022 and 2023, aims to support a minimum number of 2,500 schools with high and medium risk of school dropout, by using the methodology and the IT tool of the Early Warning Mechanism in Education ( MATE), by allocating financial resources to schools to support students, in order to reduce absenteeism, improve assessment results, obtain a higher participation rate in national exams and a higher percentage of students completing compulsory education.
PNRAS is the largest program to support participation in education in the recent history of Romania and the first coherent program at national level that aims to scale measures proven effective at the local, individual level, in order to achieve an important country goal: increasing equity of the education system. PNRAS is the Ministry of Education's response to early school leaving and early school leaving and it is aimed at students at risk of dropping out, especially students belonging to vulnerable groups, such as students belonging to the Roma minority, students from rural and small urban areas, students with disabilities or needs special education (SEN), students from economically disadvantaged communities, children at risk of social exclusion due to poverty, homelessness, single-parent families, disorganized families, students at risk of other social risks.
Brio - the first and only standardized testing platform in Romania - meets the needs identified in the Romanian education system, providing the tools needed to meet the objectives of the National Program for Reducing School Dropout (PNRAS).
Within the project, the applicants can benefit from standardized tests for the main school subjects (mathematics, Romanian language, history), literacy and digital literacy tests, as well as all the technical support and training courses necessary to implement and use the platform in schools
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